This application is based on and claims the priority date of German Application No. 201 14 328.3, filed on Aug. 30, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an arrangement for producing a brewed beverage, in particular coffee, comprising a filter receptacle with an approximately truncated cone shape for holding a cone-shaped filter paper of mesh insert, as well as a water intake device arranged above the filter receptacle. The water intake device is provided on the side opposite the filter receptacle with a water distributor having a plurality of flow-through openings, wherein one flow-through opening is located in the center of the projection surface for the water distributor and the filter receptacle. Arrangements of this type primarily are components of so-called coffee machines and, as such, are used in nearly all households these days.
Of course, coffee machines also comprise other components and functional units, for example, a fresh-water container, a flow-through heater, a holding container for the finished filtered product and a heating plate onto which the latter holding container is placed,
Once a coffee machine is turned on, the water inside the fresh water container is heated with the flow-through heater and moves through a rising tube to the top and into an arrangement of the above-mentioned type. That is, the heated brewing water flows from the rising pipe into the water intake device. From there, the brewing water flows through the flow-through openings of the water distributor into the filter receptacle underneath that was provided earlier with a cone-shaped filter insert, and filled with a predetermined amount of ground coffee.
The heated brewing water flows through the coffee grounds, leaching them out in the process. The resulting filtered product then flows into the holding container provided underneath the filter receptacle.
In most cases, an arrangement of the type initially described is a component of a coffee machine, the operation of which was described in principle above. However, it can also be used separately and brewing water can be poured in manually, meaning it does not have to be used in connection with a known coffee machine.
The purpose of an arrangement as initially defined above is to influence the drinking strength of the generated brewed beverage through the arrangement of the flow-through openings inside the water distributor
If the brewing water flows exclusively through the centrally arranged flow-through opening of the water distributor, the coffee grounds in the filter receptacle are swirled up strongly and result in the brewing of a relatively strong coffee.
On the other hand, if the water flows through the remaining flow-through openings located outside of the center, a milder coffee is brewed.
With known arrangements of the initially described type, the flow-through openings outside of the central opening are arranged in concentric circles around the centrally located flow-through opening.
However, since the projection surface of a filter receptacle is no longer circular in the region of the coffee grounds, meaning in the lower to mid-level region, the above-described arrangement of the additional flow-through openings can no longer be viewed as an optimum arrangement. The danger exists that a portion of the brewing water flowing out through these openings does not directly flow onto the coffee grounds, but onto the side-wall region of the filter receptacle. An optimum use of the coffee grounds is therefore not possible.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an arrangement of the type initially described above which always results in an optimum use of the aroma carrier, regardless of which flow-through opening is used for producing a brewed beverage.
The above object generally is achieved according to the invention by arranging additional flow-through openings along a peripheral line. The course of this line corresponds approximately to the peripheral outline of a projection surface inside space of the filter receptacle in the lower to mid-level region of the filter receptacle.
With an arrangement according to the invention the water flow-through openings arranged outside of the center are thus configured to correspond mostly to the peripheral outline of a projection surface inside space of the filter receptacle in the lower to mid-level region of this filter receptacle. Thus, if these additional flow-through openings are used, the brewing water in the edge regions always flows directly onto the coffee grounds inside the filter receptacle or another aroma carrier. Thus, an optimum use of the aroma carrier is ensured, even if the outer flow-through openings are used. Additional features of the invention likewise are disclosed.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are represented in the attached drawings and are described in further detail below.